Pakistanis have to shed any illusions about the militants who blew up the Marriot hotel, the News, a national daily newspaper, declares in a tough editorial.

It is senseless to point fingers elsewhere. We must wake up to the fact that these people come from amongst us; they target venues within the country and they kill their own countrymen. It is time we accepted this war is our own.

The News goes on to argue that the tendency to give the militants the benefit of the doubt has allowed them to flourish and says the government must lose no time in building a consensus to take on the terrorists.

The opinions we still hear everywhere, in roadside cafes, in offices - and among the country's establishment - that the militants who have entrenched themselves in northern areas are 'good' people, that force should not be used against them - is one reason why we today face such high levels of peril.

Anatol Lieven, writing in the Times, discusses the excuses ordinary Pakistanis make for the terrorists. After dozens of workers were killed at a munitions complex last month, many Pakistanis told him the attack was justified because it was a military target and the military were taking American money to kill their own people.

The latest attack, he says, may lead to a stronger determination for the civilian government and the military to work together to defeat extremists. It may remind the west that Pakistan is not just an aspect of its campaign in Afghanistan but a much more important country. "It needs all the help we can give," he concludes.

Taking up this theme of aid, the Independent says it may be too much to expect that a large amount of foreign aid can help, but in the absence of any other solution it remains the only hope.

I, a Muslim who fights daily against the unjust treatment of Muslims in the west, have to face the blinding truth that although we have serious external enemies, more Muslims are hurt, wounded, killed and denied by other Muslims who feel themselves to be virtuous.

What is truly distressing about Pakistan is the utter lack of any visible direction. Since August 6, Pakistan has been fighting militants in Bajaur. Yet virtually no one in the country is aware of who we are fighting and why. Worse yet, it's not clear who is responsible for the operation: the political government, the military or both? Is it any surprise that the people are confused and split when they do not know who we are fighting, why we are fighting and even who 'we' is?